Ride-hailing platform Yango says its AI-powered routing technology gave African commuters back nearly 2 million hours in 2025 by finding faster routes through congested cities. The time savings came from trips across multiple African cities where the company operates, with Abidjan seeing the biggest absolute gain.
According to Yango Group, commuters in Abidjan saved over 815,000 hours last year, more than any other African city in Yango Group’s study. In Kinshasa, riders made trips 6% faster on average, one of the company’s best global results. Dakar users saved nearly 170,000 hours in total, and riders in Yaoundé and Douala each gained over an hour per year.
The numbers are based on an analysis of millions of Yango Ride trips taken in 2025. The company compared its AI-optimised routes against standard shortest-path routes that don’t adjust for real-time traffic. The difference shows how much time gets wasted when routing systems ignore live congestion data.
Why traffic time actually matters in African cities
Time lost in traffic isn’t just an annoyance in African cities; it directly affects people’s incomes and quality of life. In cities like Lagos, Nairobi, or Abidjan, workers can spend three to four hours commuting daily. That’s time they can’t spend working, running side businesses, or being with family.
“In many African cities, time lost in traffic directly impacts productivity, family life, and economic opportunity,” said Adeniyi Adebayo, Yango Group’s Chief Business Officer. “What these results show is that AI is not abstract; it is a practical infrastructure.”
Also read: Yango partners Changan to distribute sustainable vehicles for e-hailing across Africa
Yango’s routing system analyses real-time traffic, past congestion, road conditions, traffic light timing, and turn complexity. It instantly compares routes and chooses the fastest option based on current conditions, not just distance.
How the Yango AI routing technology learns
What makes the system smarter over time is that it continuously compares predicted travel times against actual results. When it gets a route wrong, say, underestimating how bad traffic will be on a particular road, the algorithm adjusts and becomes more accurate for future trips in that area.
Beyond saving time, better routing has environmental benefits. When cars spend less time idling in traffic and take more efficient routes, they burn less fuel and produce fewer emissions. In fast-growing African cities where air quality is already a concern, these gains add up.
Globally, Yango says its routing technology saved more than 5 million hours across over 20 cities in 2025, the equivalent of about 600 years of human time. The company operates in more than 35 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
The results suggest that AI-driven mobility tools can make a measurable difference in how efficiently cities move people around, particularly in places where road infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with population growth.
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